1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to multi-threaded processing of graphics data and, more specifically, to using multiple versions of programmable constants within a multi-threaded processor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional systems for performing multi-threaded execution of programs support a single set of programmable constants and a change to one of the constants must be delayed until the constant is no longer used by the program. Typically, any execution unit performing the multi-threaded processing that uses the constant is drained before the constant is changed. Therefore, the processing throughput of the multi-threaded processor may be reduced whenever a programmable constant is changed by a program instruction.
Accordingly, it is desirable to avoid draining an execution unit that is using a programmable constant when the value of the constant is updated.